Descriptive (definition)

Descriptive rules, principles and constraints, are formal tools used by linguists to describe how native speakers of a language actually speak. They are contrasted with prescriptive rules which tell people how they should speak.

See Also

• Prescriptive (definition)

External Links

The link below takes you away from the Gaelic Wiki to Wikipedia. Since wikipedia pages can be edited by anyone, they often contain inaccurate information. So be careful!

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prescriptive
• http://pinker.wjh.harvard.edu/articles/media/1994_01_24_thenewrepublic.html

References

• Crystal, David. (1997) A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.